सीरवी समाज - मुख्य समाचार

Prof. P.C.Kotwal, ( Seerv i) M.Sc.,Ph.D.,D.Sc. ( Bhopal )
यह लेख हमे भोपाल से सीरवी प्रोफेसर प्रेमचंद कोटवाल जी ने प्रेषित किया है जिसकी मूल प्रति को हम हूबहू अपलोड कर रहे है । आप भी अपनी प्रतिक्रिया हमें देने की कृपा करे ( हो सकता है मैं आपके विचारों से सहमत न हो पाऊ फिर भी वितार प्रकट करने के आपके अधिकारों की रक्षा करुंगा - वाल्वेयर )
All India Seerwi Samaj is the ramification of Rajputs and came into existence from Raja Kaanhad Dev of jaalore, Marwaad in the Vikram Samwat 1368 and has 24 Gotra. The group initially depended on agriculture on barter/sharing basis along river Khaari and therefore also called as Khaaradia Seerwi. Thereafter they gradually spread in the country and many have changed the livelihood from agriculture to business and other.
In Vikram samwat 1472, a divine daughter Jiji Bai was born at Bikaji Daabi in Ambapur of Gujrat State who was incarnation of Godess Durga. She started the “Aai Panth” and spread in Gujrat and Marwaad. The Seerwi became her disciples and followed the Aai Panth tying the white cotton thread (comprised of 11 threads) called as “Vel” having 11 knots representing 11 principles of an ideal human life. In Vikram Samwat 1521, Jiji Bai reached Bilada and nominated Seerwi Goyand Das ji as the first Deewaan and lit Akhand Jyoti at “Bader” of Bilada. Since then the Seerwi are following Aai Panth. The Deewan dynasty has guided, supported and served the Seerwi Samaj and therefore greatly respected. They were “Satwik” people and lived like “Sants”. Their words and deeds were for the benefit of the Samaj. This tradition continued till 18 Deewan Hari Singh Ji. By virtue of descedency Madho Singh ji became the 19 th Deewan and continuing.
In the present era of development, lot of changes have occurred in the society in many respects like change in places of dwellings, food habits, clothing, livelihood concerns, business, belief in religion, traditions, etc. Like other communities, Seerwi Samaj has also progressed a lot in many respects like dispersed in many states and also in many countries, better education and awareness, economically efficient, service, business, industry, politics etc. In the changed scenario the relevance of Deewan tradition has also changed. The earlier Deewans were “Satwik” and used to guide, support and serve the Samaj but the same is not true with the present Deewan. He joined a political party, fought election and also became Minister some years back in Rajasthan. Thus he developed the taste of a modern day politician rather than the “Dharma Guru of the Samaj”, unlike his fore fathers. The support of Samaj to him has severely eroded due to not full filling the expectations of the Samaj of proper guidance, support and service to the Samaj as his fore fathers use to do. Rather many of his actions have divided the Samaj. There are several examples to this effect.
One such example is the case of Village Kapsi in Dhar District of Madhya Pradesh. Few years back there was row over the issue of agriculture land attached to the temple “Bader”. In earlier time, the priest of the temple (jamadari) used to manage the temple from the earnings of the agriculture land and also for the Samaj. But in due course of time the priest (jamadari) possessed the temple land as his own and discontinued to manage the temple from the earnings of the agriculture land of the temple. He became rich and built Pucca house for himself while the temple continue in the Kachha house with old style earthen tiles. The people of the village objected to this and asked the Jamadari to give some share of the agriculture of the temple for the temple maintenance and also for the benefit of the Samaj, but he did not agree. He said that the land belong to him and not to temple. The people of the village reached to present day Deewan with the request to judiciously sort out the issue but the Deewan supported the jamadari and wrongfully ruled that the land belong to the jamadari and not to the temple. It is the discretion of the jamadari to use the income of the agriculture land. The people of the village got annoyed on Deewan due to his biased version. The Seerwi of the village got divided into two groups Pro-jamadari and Pro-temple. After this, there was fight among the two groups for possession of the temple land from the jamadari and the jamadari inadvertently got killed in the incident. Several cases were registered in the courts against the two groups of Seerwi of the same village. In due course, the poor Seerwi were prosecuted and punished. They were all-round looser in term of the money, time for agriculture and also parental care of their families. A case is still pending for final decision in the High court against life imprisonment of 35 Seerwi of the village.
The case regarding the ownership of the land was decided in favor of the temple that the agriculture land belongs to the temple and not to the jamadari. Thus the version of the Deewan was proved wrong resulting into loss of a human life, division among the Seerwi of the village and miseries of the affected Seerwi families of village who also earned bad name. Had the Deewan been judicious in his version, all this could have been avoided. Actually the situation warrants registering the case against the Deewan who mis-guided and divided the poor Seerwi and excited the Jamadari to fight to retain the possession of the temple land which was legally wrong as proven by the court judgment.
After about a decade the situation in the village returned to near normalcy. It is worthwhile to mention that the Seerwi temple Bader of the village still remains in the small Kachha house with old style earthen tiles. In order to have a Pucca temple and to provide sufficient place for religious activities of the Samaj, one Seerwi family of the village donated about 5000 sq. Ft. of land for construction of temple in the village in 2009. All the Seerwi Panch of the village happily accepted the land amidst the Bhagwat Maha Puran Katha and the Katha Pandit performed the ceremony among the donor family and the receiver Seerwi Panch. Another Seerwi family demolished their house adjacent to the temple site and given about 2000 Sq. ft. additional land so that the temple area could be amply large. Thereafter a committee was formed for construction of the temple. The committee went to Bilada for seeking the blessings and consent of the Deewan as Dharm Guru. He consented for construction of the temple at the donated site. Although this was not required as the Deewan has been bias and played destructive role for the village in dividing the Seerwi of the village in two groups over the issue of temple land. Despite of this the innocent Seerwi went to Deewan respecting the tradition. The construction of temple started. In the mean time the jamadari group of Seerwi was not happy with this development and tried to create the obstructions in construction of the temple. During visit of Deewan to the village in 2010, he asked to halt the construction of the temple for one year. This was observed. Thereafter during visit of Deewan in Feb. 2012 at Kukshi, he asked to put the foot prints (of Samadhi of some person in the donated temple site) in the temple under construction which is originally meant for Godess Durga. This version of Deewan is ridiculous which was amongst the Seerwi of Kukshi and Kapsi. On objecting to this by a member of the temple construction committee, the Deewan threatened to him for life and said that his photograph will be hanged.
The Deewan again played destructive role during his visit to the village Kapsi on 2 March 2012. Without any consultations with the Seerwi of the village -
He asked to construct the temple in the Seerwi Bhojnalaya of the village which is operational since 50 years.
He also said to construct the Bhojnalaya in the agriculture land of the temple outside the village.
Upon asking about the fate of the temple under construction at the donated site, he ruled that it is the concern of the donor family.
This has caused furor among the two groups of Seerwi of Village Kapsi deliberately created by the Deewan. This is obvious because the above actions of Deewan have ethical, religious, social, financial and legal concerns.
Ethically he did not play the role of a Dharm Guru like his fore fathers to unite the Seerwi of the village, rather he has divided the Seerwi into two groups and created conflicts. Thus a tense situation has been again created by the Deewan and some of his supporters among the two Seerwi groups of the village and may lead to serious incidences like the previous one, calling upon the attention of district administration.
On religious accounts how the temple under construction for Godess Durga after following the religious functions with the consent of all concerned including the Deewan himself can be suddenly stopped.
Socially, It has further fortified the division of the Seerwi of the village in two groups with every day clashes rather than uniting them. How the people can live peacefully and prosper.
From financial point, lot of expenditure has already incurred on the temple under construction by donations of several people of the village and the area. Two families have donated the land for construction of the temple out of which one family has demolished their house and given the land for the temple. In such a situation the Deewan is liable for payment of compensation to the sufferers.
The Seerwi Bhojnalaya of the village has been functioning well since about 50 years where the food for family and Samaj functions is being cooked and also dined. The Deewan’s desire to construct the temple in Bhojnalaya will drastically disturb the well established system for functions of the Samaj and cannot be justified on any grounds.
From legal point, how the agriculture land can be used for construction of a large building as Bhojnalaya without proper permission for diversion. Further, the location is far off the village to facilitate the cooking and dining by all segments (ladies, children, old) of the Samaj.
Further it has several other complications of chronic nature depriving the peace and prosperity of the people of the village. How the Godess Durga will be benevolent to one group of people and not to other group of people as divided by the Deewan.
To summarize, look at the changing versions of the Deewan in respect of temple construction in village Kapsi.
2009- Consented to the temple construction committee for construction of temple at the donated site.
2010-Asked to stop temple construction for one year .
2012 Feb.- Asked to put foot prints of Samadhi in the temple under construction which is originally meant for Godess durga.
2012 March- Asked to construct temple at the Bhojnalaya and construct new Bhojnalaya in the agriculture field.
Such varying versions cannot come from a sane person. The location of the donated temple site is excellent having Bhairav temple (worshiped by entire village) on the other side which is in accordance with the line in the prayer ‘Choushath Yogini Gaawat, Nratya karat Bheru.” Why the Deewan has earlier consented to construct the temple at the donated site and why he is opposing now?
In the wider interest of all, the Deewan must withdraw his wrongful actions in the Village Kapsi and ask to continue the temple construction at the donated site. He must introspect about the repercussions on his actions and stop intervening in the village affairs. He must maintain the good traditions of Deewan dynasty by playing only positive role for the benefit of all sections of the Samaj failing which more and more people will dis-own him as Dharm Guru.
This is one narration of Deewan’s destructive actions. There are many such incidences. He is used to play like modern day politician (rather than a Dharm Guru) and go on saying about unity but actually dividing Seerwi into groups and creating conflicts. He remains encircled with few corrupt persons who suggest and support un-ethical, un-social and illegal activities. Due to this, support of the Samaj to Deewan has severely eroded because people do not find ground to own him as Dharm Guru. My father greatly respected Deewan. My mother (who comes from Rathore Gotra) considered him as brother and asked me to consider him not only the Deewan but also as MamaJi (because my mother did not had real brother). Therefore, I use to pay great respect to Deewan in my childhood. But later on real revelations of Deewan became evident and my respect to him also reduced. I believe that similar is the situation with respect to many Seerwi Bandhu. The biased actions brings bad name not only to Deewan dynasty but also to the Samaj. He must retrospect his own actions in the past and rectify himself being now in the Van Prastha Ashram Phase of his life. He should deserve to be the Dharm Guru by his benevolent actions for the welfare of the Samaj and not only demanding from the Samaj. He used to showcase like a King by lot of pomp and show (50 Dhols, lot of lights and sound, feasts etc.) costing upon the Seerwi Samaj for nothing. The money could have been better utilized for the children of poor Seerwi in marriage, education, health care etc. During his every visit to Samaj villages, the Seerwi pay him a lot in terms cash and kind (value being in millions of Rupees) but nothing hs been spent towards the benefit of Samaj. It seems that his frequent visits to Nimar and Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh are a part of political agenda of the political party to which he belongs and the donations by Samaj to him are going in the party funds. He lives a prosperous life without any apparent religious discipline or sacrifice to selfishness while the people of Samaj suffer on many accounts. The Seerwi Samaj is quite progressive in all respects as evinced by the web site www.seerwi samaj.com. The Deewan as a Dharm Guru can play important role in further shaping the Samaj for more achievements at the national and international level. For this he is required to change himself and behave like a real spiritually enlightened Dharm Guru as in case of other Samaj.
According to Shastra, where the Dharm Guru leads a simple and disciplined life style (following the 5 Yama- Satya, Ahinsa, Asteya, Aparigraha, Brahmacharya and 5 Niyama- Shouch, Santosh, Swadhyay, Tap, Ishwar Pranidhan) the people of that Samaj remain prosperous. But If the Dharm Guru leads a lavish life style, the people of Samaj suffer. Look at the Dharm Guru of Jain Samaj- the Jain Muni leads a saintly life style and Samaj is prosperous. Chanakya, the Dharm Guru of Samrat Chandra Gupt Mourya lead a saintly life and the people of the kingdom were prosperous. There are many such examples.
Actually the dynasty system of Dharam Guru is not prevalent in many other religions. In case of Sikhism there are 10 Dharm Guru decided on the basis of their spiritual enlightenments and willingness to serve the Samaj. There is no Guru after 10th Guru and the Guru Granth Sahib is the torch bearer for them. In case of Islam there has been only one Paigamber Hajarat Mohammad Sahib. The Molvi and Imam preach the principles of Holy Kuran. In case of Christianity, The Christ is the only messenger of God and the Fathers preach the principles of holy Bible. In Budhism, Bhagwan Budha has been the only God and the Dalai Lama preaches the holy lesions of Budha.
In recent times in India there have been several Dharm Guru who were spiritually enlightened and followed by several disciples. To name a few- Ramkrishna Param Hans, Gorang Maha Prabhu, Sai Baba, Yoganand Param Hans, Yogi Arvindo, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, Acharya Shri Ram Sharma, and many more. At present there are several spiritually enlightened Dharm Guru like Sri Sri Ravi Sankar Ji, Sant Asaram Ji, Mata Amrata Anand Mayi, and the like . All are proven spiritually enlightened Dharm Guru with several satisfied followers. There is no place of endless dynasty system of Dharm Guru. Seerwi Samaj is exceptional and had 18 Deewan as Dharm Guru but it seems that the end has come now.
The following are some of the main issues of Seerwi Samaj which need to be addressed.
Donations: There is a system of offering donations to Deewan during his visit to Seerwi Samaj villages. The amount in cash and kind becomes huge. Ideally the donations by the people of Samaj should be utilized for the welfare of Samaj. This has not been done. The people of Samaj should ask Deewan to account all the donations received by him during his tenure, form a trust for judicious use of the funds for the benefit of Samaj. The system of such donations should be stopped.
Temple lands: There are Seerwi temples (called as Bader) in Seerwi dominated villages in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and other areas in rest of the country. These temples usually have agriculture lands of varying extent meant for the maintenance of temples and for the benefit of the Samaj. Many persons have illegal possession of temple lands (as if belong to individuals) and forgot the original objective. They have been enjoying the benefits of the huge agriculture lands originally belonging to the temples. All such land should be restored to their original status as “temple lands”. Committees should be formed to look after the agriculture lands and their judicious use for maintenance of temples and benefit to Samaj.
Religious: By and large, people have respect for religion and try to follow the religious traditions. But in absence of proper guidance on religion, many persons of Samaj have opted to several other Dharm Guru like Sant Asaram Ji, Sri Sri Ravi Sankar Ji, Gayatri Parivar, Sai Baba Ji, and the like. This is mainly due to lack of faith in Aai Panth that it will not give them the much required peace, bliss and benevolence of All Mighty. The spiritually enlightened Dharm Guru can imbibe such faith in the Aai Panth in which persons have achieved Nirvan. But this is lacking in the present Dharm Guru of Seerwi Samaj. Restoration of such faith is the duty of Dharma Guru. Devine literature of Aai Panth should be prepared and published on the pattern of Holy Gita/ Ramayan and disseminated to Seerwi Samaj. For this a committee of available spiritual persons can be formed.
Social/cultural: Many of the young girls and boys of the Samaj are marrying in other Samaj. This can be reasonably reduced by providing appropriate matrimonial information in all the states and districts so that the marriageable boys/girls and their parents know about availability of suitable match within Samaj only. The web site of the Samaj can play important role disseminating the information. Parichay Sammelan should be organized every year at state and national level.
There are increasing number of divorce cases on patty grounds spoiling the families and particularly the infants/children. A committee of Seerwi Panch at state level should be formed at village level and state level to resolve such issues.
There are conflicts among the closer Seerwi and relatives on patty issues and the cases are taken to court. This creates a tense situation among the close ones and also lead to loss of time and money in court cases. Many cases can be resolved by Seerwi Panch at state level.
Agriculture: Large numbers of Seerwi are dependent on agriculture for livelihood. There are several issues regarding agriculture. Due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides/insecticides, the agriculture land is gradually becoming less productive. The farmers run in losses. Further, the agriculture produce do get appropriate prices in comparison to financial inputs. The financial condition of farmers, particularly the small land holders, is critical leading to suicide cases. There is urgent need to technically guide the farmers to adopt the bio-Agriculture (Jevic Kheti) and go for alternate crops suitable to land. There are many more things required by the farmers. A group of technical persons can guide the farmers to reduce their financial miseries.

Education: Although lot of boys and girls are going for better and higher education but still there is considerable scope for improvements for their proper career guidance so that more youngsters successfully compete All India services and other better services.

Many interested youngsters can be encouraged for sports, arts and other such activities where they can reach on the top. For this some financial and training arrangements are required.
Health: Many suffer due to simple ailments and due ignorance these become chronic leading to lot inconvenience and financial expenditure for treatments. In old days people use to live natural life, work hard, and go for home remedies for small ailments. The Ayurved and Yoga can address such problems. People need to be encouraged for this and there should be trained persons who are willing to serve people. Now a days such things are available.

Bad taboos; Many Seerwi have spoiled habits by eating tobacco, drinking liquor, eating non-veg. food, gambling etc. these lead to several repercussions in the family. These need to be strictly curbed on social/spiritual grounds.
Seerwi are progressive and the affluent Samaj can play important role for the nation and can earn name and fame at the national and international level.
The temples in old days were not merely the places of worship of the deity but they were the centers for almost all the above mentioned activities for the overall benefit and up-liftment of the concerned Samaj. There use to be spiritually enlightened and socially people for the services of the Samaj. The Seerwi Samaj can play an ideal role in creating such centers at their temples but they must not be the points of politics. The present Dharm Guru of other Samaj have all these things in their Ashrams and therefore the people adopt to them and get rid of their miseries. Such facilities can be developed by Seerwi Samaj also for the overall benefit of the Samaj. The national level Seerwi Maha Sabha can look into all such matters.
Prof. P.C.Kotwal,M.Sc.,Ph.D.,D.Sc.
B-11, Manorama Enclave, Nehru Nagar,
Bhopal-462003, India
Phone; +91-755-2775021, Mobile; +91-9406518132